[A view of the Núcleo de Estudos em Saúde Coletiva]

This brief evaluation of the first twenty years of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte's Núcleo de Estudos em Saúde Coletiva (Collective Health Studies Group; NESC/UFRN), celebrated in 2008, gathers together and correlates elements from the literature and from archives, functional and symbolic traces, and the author's experience as a participant during this time. It is observed that NESC, created in the context of the public health movement, earned a place as a reference on Rio Grande do Norte's collective health scene, although this entailed negotiating a maze while endeavoring to build collective projects. The accumulated experience serves as a tool for achieving institutional continuity.